Where this was said
Japan With Otis, and What Parenting Teaches You About Yourself
At 49:47 · chapter starts 46:20
The parenting discussion culminates in a beautiful anecdote: Olivia took her 12-year-old son Otis to Japan for a week, just the two of them. They meditated at a temple (his idea of a gift to her), took a manga drawing class conducted entirely in Japanese and laughed until they cried, and walked through cherry blossoms together — which Otis spontaneously identified at the day's end as his favorite part, something he'd never say in LA. Throughout, he kept grabbing her and saying 'I love you so much.' She connects this to a broader reflection: parenthood humbles you completely, introduces you to your own capacity for love and selflessness, and is fundamentally better than she could have imagined. Dax adds that children expose the limits of his emotional availability in other relationships.
Olivia Wilde took her son Otis on a one-week trip to Japan for spring break. They took a manga drawing class conducted entirely in Japanese — laughing until they cried — and at the end of each day he'd surprise her by saying his favorite part was walking through the cherry blossoms together. She says it was the best week of her life.
